Pictures from the Baltimore Comic-Con, part 3

Here's the final batch of pictures from last weekend's Baltimore Comic-Con.  A good time was had by all!  And I've got the evidence below.

YES!  Awkward blue-screened celebrity photos.  I went up to the table with the prints and snapped a picture of them, and oh, what gems I found!  This is such an odd phenomenon, and one born of an event planner's desire to expedite the money making process.  I understand why someone might want a picture with his or her favorite famous person, but who wants something so generic and often creepy?  All of these people did, apparently, and shelled out a nice chunk of money to do so.  Stan Lee looks a bit like someone stuffed him and propped him up.

Ken Hunt drew this great Yeti sketch for a fan who bought the whole set of Teddy and the Yeti.  I was sad to see it go!

This zombie couple stayed in character as long as I saw them - staggering thought the isles, moaning and staring at passers by.  I appreciated the commitment.

There's so much to like about this homemade Galactus costume.  The globe is a really nice touch.

Ken Hunt sketches a Yeti in the Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch collection.

This was a very well done movie Thor costume.  The circle things on his chest even lit up!  When we asked him if that was his own hair, he looked at us as if we were crazy.

Words cannot describe how awesome this duo was.  I'm not sure why the guy dressed as Krang didn't go as Rocksteady instead, but still, give credit where it's due.  Anyone who breaks out the 90s Ninja Turtle costumes gets an A+ in my book (I also saw a girl dressed up as April O'Neal at the show).

Dazzler is probably too much a product of her time to be really relevant today.  But this costume looked good anyway.  I asked her (mostly joking) if she had thought to wear roller skates, but she told me that she tore some ligaments in one of her feet, so that idea was out.  I imagine heels in general must have been pretty painful.

Hey!  It's the Franks and Beans table!!  All of our fans are just off to our left.  What a great time for Larry and alternate me.

This happened outside the convention center after the show was over -- I'm not even certain that this mermaid had anything to do with the Comic-Con itself.  But she still looked cool.  As these two guys were carrying her, her tail began to slip off, revealing some gratuitous nudity underneath.  A great end (pun!) to a great day.

Well, I'm finally out of pictures to share.  I guess I'll just have to think of something different to say tomorrow.

Do-it-yourself Yeti action figure; a step-by-step guide!

A while ago I went to the Pittsburgh Steel City Con, which is basically a toy and comic show that happens several times a year.  While I was there I dug though a toy bin and found a Marvel Legends Sasquatch figure for pretty cheap, so I bought it and brought it home with the intention of repainting it to look like a Yeti.

Months and months and layers of paint later, I'd say that I'm 95% finished - there are always new spots of brown that I find hidden in joints so I'm sure that touchups remain, but for most purposes the figure is done.  I'll be bringing it along to the Baltimore Comic-Con and...I don't know, probably hanging it off of something.

As this is obviously a modern artistic feat, I've decided to post a meticulous step-by-step guide to creating YOUR OWN (wow!!) Yeti figure.  Perhaps one day it can even look as good as mine (but probably not).  Let's begin!

Step One: Buy a Marvel Legends Sasquatch figure.  Assuming that Alpha Flight characters haven't suddenly and inexplicably risen in popularity (even from "not at all popular" to "moderately unpopular"), you can find one for a couple bucks or perhaps a few shiny pebbles.

Step Two: Buy paint and some paintbrushes.  I used Testors oil-based paints for two reasons: first, the name sounds somewhat dirty, and that is funny; second, I still had some in my desk from the last time I painted a model, about 20 years ago.  I did have to go out and buy some purple, though, and was happy to find that Testors (heh heh) had not gone out of business in the meantime.

Step Three: Just...paint it.  Really, how else was this going to end?  Paint one side, and when that side dries, flip it over and paint the other side, and then repeat until it's all covered.  And then you'll have your own Yeti figure, which will be cooler than all the other toys in the neighborhood.

In searching Google Images for the above picture of the unpainted Sasquatch, I came across this Marvel Legends variant figure, which features...a completely white Sasquatch.  DAMMIT!  Buying this figure instead would have cut down my workload by like 80%.  Ah crap.  Well, I suppose I still have my memories.

Kung Fu Bean

Mike Adams is a familiar name around these parts (I've always wanted to say "around these parts") as a colorist and co-creator of Ultimate Hero and the Protector.  In addition to those two properties, I've been lucky enough to collaborate with Mike on a few other projects in the past as well: he colored Mario Wytch's pinup in Teddy and the Yeti #2 and a Mr. Massive pitch as well.  Mike is much more than a colorist, though - he's always brimming with new and exciting ideas for comic plots, and he's great with design work to boot.

I got some good news the other day that Mike was bringing a long-time favorite concept of his (and mine...I'm a big fan), "Kung Fu Bean", to Viper Comics (publisher of Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch) as an exclusive webcomic, and lo and behold (I've also always wanted to say "lo and behold"...dreams do come true!!), the Viper-hosted site seems to be up and running.

Kung Fu Bean is a tongue-in-cheek comic about a baked bean imbued with both sentience and a martial arts background after falling from space through the broadcast signal of an all kung fu television channel.  As crazy as that plot seems, I think it really works and it sets up a lot of the laughs that follow.  At one point I had written something resembling a KFB comic with Mike - I have no idea if any of that plot will be used in this webcomic, but I'm excited to see where it goes.

You can check out the KFB webcomic here.  The site is updated with new pages every Monday!  Best of luck to Mike in his new endeavor.  The only negative thing to come out of this is that Mike now has the martial arts vegetable market cornered.  So much for my new comic, "Tai Chi Broccoli".

Dr. Horrible and other notes

If you're a self-respecting Firefly fan (and who isn't?) and you live in or reasonably close to Wilmington, North Carolina, you've got to check out the Brown Coat Pub & Theatre.  It's a Firefly/Serentiy themed bar/restaurant that also puts on plays and musicals.  This month's play just happens to be another Joss Whedon brainchild, Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, which is just like combining chocolate and peanut butter.

I took the show in last week and it was a lot of fun - and unbeknownst to me, the role of Penny is being performed by my friend June Bunce, so that's even more reason to go...I guess.  This is the last weekend for Dr. Horrible at the Brown Coat, so if you're able, check it out!

- June Gilbank of PlanetJune wrote about the crochet Yeti doll she made at my behest on her website, and soon a thousand or so other sites picked up on it.  Apparently amigurumi yetis are big news on the Internet(s).  News of the crochet pattern soon sprung up on Facebook, Amazon, a bunch of blogs, and my favorite, a website titled "Bigfoot Lunch Club".

In addition to the Yeti, June also created a crochet Sasquatch, which, really, makes a lot of sense (and also looks adorable).  She's working on the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Amigurumi, due out in October, and if she really twists my arm about including the Yeti in the book...I suppose I'd have to let her.  And by that I mean hoooooly crap would that be awesome.

- Fanboy Comics recently held a drawing for free Avengers stuff as a promotion for the new Avengers series (not to be confused with the new New Avengers series that will also be out soon).  Fanboy does a lot of great things to advertise their store, but I've never won anything from them...until now.  My name got picked and I got this nifty-looking Mighty Avengers: Assemble hardcover that you can see below:

To this, I say..."hey-ooo!"  I look forward to reading it, as I didn't pick up all of the individual issues when this series launched a few years ago.  I wonder if it'll seem better because it was free.

- Who else wasted hours of their lives by playing Google's Pac-Man from last weekend?  Okay, "wasted" isn't accurate - I enjoyed the heck out of it.  And, wonder upon wonders, Google has left it online at www.google.com/pacman.

Did you know that if you hit the "insert coin" button twice, you can play a two-player game with Ms. Pac-Man?  Her controls are the WASD buttons.

- Lastly, as always, here's a new episode of Franks and Beans.  This one is titled "Kill Switch", and I think you'll like it.  If you don't, you might just be a communist.

Scene from the Con

Having a great time at the Pittsburgh Comicon.  It's exhausting, though, which is why I will leave you with this picture of me in my brand new Jane Cobb hat that I won from the Science Fiction Alliance of Pittsburgh.  And hey, check out Franks and Beans co-star Larry Franks in the background, looking thrilled as he sits at the table!  More to come!

Issue #3 preview

The time is almost upon us - Teddy and the Yeti #3 will go on sale this Friday, April 23rd, at the Pittsburgh Comicon - I'll be at booth S088 with all three issues, the Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch anthology, a few copies of Strip Search and a few other things.  Below is a preview of the issue; as I've mentioned before, this issue features three stand alone Teddy and the Yeti tales, including a colored version of their origin story, as well as a short backup story with the Ultimate Hero.  The following is the cover and the first pages of all four stories (so if reading them in succession doesn't make sense, don't worry - you're not stroking out).

The cover is by Godland's Tom Scioli, with Alan Gallo providing inks and Karin Rindevall on colors.  The interior pencils and inks are all by regular series artist and co-creator Duane Redhead, and there are a bevy of colorists in line for the Teddy and the Yeti stories: Giuseppe Pica, Karin Rindevall, Omi Remalante, Jr., and Paul Little.  The short Ultimate Hero story is penciled by Travis Sengaus, inked by L Jamal Walton and colored by co-creator Mike Adams with help from Paul Little.

The official solicitation info is after the preview.  Hope to see you at the show!  Look for the me there - I'll be the one shamelessly promoting this book.  Also, I'm very attractive.

Solicit info:

Thrill to three titanic tales in the third issue of Teddy and the Yeti!  Discover the origin of Teddy and the Yeti!  Witness an undersea battle!  And marvel at the one villain who could turn Teddy and the Yeti against each other!  Plus: Ultimate Hero with Travis Sengaus and an interview with cover artist Tom Scioli!

Inside Jokes

The upcoming third issue of Teddy and the Yeti opens with a colored version of the story "Presidents and Precedence" - a seven-page tale that was first published (in black and white) in the Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch anthology.  The first page of this story features the iconic (?) image of the Yeti knocking the head off a robotic Abraham Lincoln.  The Yeti soon discusses her growing dislike for the 16th President of the United States, surely aggravated by the fact that robot Lincolns keep attacking her, mentioning that if she were alive at the time (and, presumably, allowed to vote) she would have voted for "the other guy".  Ted retorts by asking if she even knows who "the other guy" was, which, of course, the Yeti does not.

This scene gave me a measure of satisfaction beyond its surface, as "the other guy", at least during Lincoln's bid for a second term in office, just so happens to have been an uncle of mine.  Well, a great-great-great-great-whatever uncle of mine: Civil War General George Brinton McClellan.

Let me say that it is difficult to look back at the history of the United States and say "boy, I wish Uncle George had won the election...over Abraham Lincoln."  Lincoln has earned his spot on Mr. Rushmore, for sure, as a liberator and a great leader.  It's hard to think of what this country might have become without his steady, guiding hand just when we as a people needed it most.  The Presidential election of 1864 was won by a landslide, and really, how could it have been otherwise?  McClellan had no chance, and it was for the betterment of the country that he lost.

That being said, seeing the Yeti punch robot Lincoln in the head was somewhat cathartic, in a twisted way.  Lincoln and McClellan had a strained relationship, with Lincoln famously writing that since the General was not using the Union army, he "would like to borrow it for a time."  McClellan, in his own display of insubordination, once rode his horse into the White House.  Into the White House!  Imagine something like that happening today.

Perhaps because of this feud, and certainly due to his hesitant nature in battle (he'd often defeat the Confederate forces and then hold back, thinking the enemy was trying to draw him out into a trap, when in reality they were just retreating), McClellan isn't given what I think is his just due by a lot of the history books.  I think this is unfair - and I'll admit that being related to the guy has something to do with it.  But if you read about the man, one thing that inevitably comes up is how popular he was with the soldiers in his command: this is what he based his '64 Presidential campaign on.  I think that caring for the welfare of those underneath you, not wanting to have men slaughtered needlessly, is something that should be admired, even if it was sometimes too cautious an approach for an all-or-nothing struggle like the Civil War.

McClellan's story isn't told very often anymore - most people don't realize that Ulysses S. Grant wasn't the only general to command the Union Army - but I'm proud of him, in my own way.  Losing the election didn't seem to keep him down, either, as he was elected governor of New Jersey in 1878.  His son, George Jr., was a member of the House of Representatives and the mayor of New York City in the early 20th century.  And I write a small press comic book!  Sigh.

In case anyone is wondering why my last name is "McClelland", not "McClellan", well...the spelling was a bit more "optional" in the 19th century.  Some people kept the 'd', some people dropped it.  I have no idea why.  I don't dwell on it often.

Teddy and the Yeti changes distributors; world does not explode

I'm sure there are plenty of quotes out there from others infinitely more famous than I am dealing with the subject of adversity and perseverance and persistence, so I'd like you, the reader, to take the time and find one, read it, reflect on it, and then come back to this posting.  It doesn't have to be from some stodgy reference manual like Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (though that is a good source, and I've got the 17th edition sitting on my bookshelf right now) - Google works just fine.  Anyway, let's take a few minutes, find a good, uplifting/conciliatory quote, and meet back here in a few minutes, okay?  Okay.

...

Are you finishe-oop, sorry, I'll wait a bit longer.

...

Ready?  Okay, good.

As the title suggests, Teddy and the Yeti has switched distributors from Diamond to Haven.  This is because Diamond has decided not to carry the title; the preorders were not to their liking and thus they went ahead and cancelled all orders placed, modest as they were.

Obviously, this creates a few issues, few of them good.  Diamond does not explain why titles are cancelled from their distribution list; retail shops simply get a letter or e-mail with a notice that the book will not ship.  When dealing with a brand new book from a brand new publishing company, such as Teddy and the Yeti, the invariable assumption is that the book was not completed or was egregiously different from the solicitation information.  Neither is true regarding Teddy and the Yeti #1, but in that regard, the damage has been done.

Additionally, those individual customers who did place orders will most likely just assume that the book was never completed, which discourages them from trying out not just Teddy and the Yeti but small press books in general, and that's a shame.  You've certainly got to be picky with books from small publishers, because the quality varies tremendously, but there are some great books out there to be read if you look for them.

Make no mistake, these are discouraging signals from Diamond, but it in no way means that you can't still get a copy of Teddy and the Yeti #1 (and subsequent issues, for that matter) if you want it - you may just have to search a little harder for it, and I hope that you, the comic book reader, will do that.

First, a few hours after being dropped by Diamond, I was contacted by the fine folks at Haven Distributors.  Haven, frankly, does not have the market share that Diamond does, but they are a solid #2 and a lot of successful companies have their books shipped by Haven, such as Top Shelf, Bongo (they publish the Simpsons and Futurama comics) and Viper (publisher of Teddy and the Yeti's first appearance in Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch).  If your comic shop orders from Haven - and there's no reason it can't - you can get Teddy and the Yeti shipped to your pull folder just as you had before.  The order code is TEDYWAG001, and it should be listed on their online catalogue as I type this.

Second, I've done my best to create an actual online store where you can order the book directly from me...the guy who currently has nearly all of the books stored in his spare bedroom (let me tell you - that comic book ink smell, I'm convinced, will kill you if you stay in that room too long.  It's overwhelming).

I just ran a rudimentary test and everything is working fine, so you can order directly and save yourself some hassle.  I've lowered the price to $2.99, though shipping comes into play.  I tried to be as fair as possible when it comes to shipping, and I decided on $1.50 for up to five books, which is a total that probably won't be reached until there's at least the second issue up and ready to purchase.  It's still cheaper for you to buy the book from your local comic shop, but if there's no other way for you to get the comic, you can find it on the official website.

Third, I'll be contacting comic book stores directly, and I will be leaving copies of the book personally at whatever stores I can.  This increases the chance that I'll be doing more signings like the one I'm doing at the Century III New Dimension Comics in West Mifflin, PA, which in turn increases YOUR chance at meeting and, perhaps, assaulting me at your hometown comic shop.  Stores with big online shipping sections like Mile High Comics and Lone Star Comics are also on my hit list, so to speak, which should make things easier for everyone involved.

Fourth and lastly, I will be stepping up my convention schedule.  Originally I had planned on reserving a booth at 2010's New York Comic-Con to show off the book.  Now I'm trying to add Pittsburgh and the big show in San Diego to that list.  None of these shows are confirmed yet, but I'm going to give it the ol' McClelland try and see what happens.

I'd like to apologize to anyone who preordered Teddy and the Yeti #1 from Diamond.  I can sympathize with your frustration, to be sure.  I hope that you can see that I'm doing everything I can to make sure that the book is available to as wide an audience as possible, and if it comes down to it, dammit, send me and e-mail and I'll do what I can do mail you the book myself.  The book is complete, printed, and sitting in my house right now.  I will do my best to make sure it gets in stores so you can plunk down some cash for 32 pages of comic book goodness.

We'll see how that works out.

Reviews...kind of.

I've been lucky enough to have some of my work published in the past.  Other than one issue of Mr. Massive (and a preview "zero" issue of Teddy and the Yeti), other companies have handled the printing and publishing chores, for which I've been even luckier.  For whatever reason, though, everything else I've done has been quite short on reviews.

It's not that I expect to be a household name or to have my work read by lots of people.  But writing in any form is a lonely business, and it's nice when people leave their comments, professional or otherwise, and so far those comments have been few and far between.

I wonder if it's just because I rarely write anything very controversial.  In Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch, Teddy and the Yeti went up against one story where Bigfoot joined the US Army and mutilated Osama Bin Laden; in Strip Search, there was a story about lesbian robots (I'm exaggerating...and it actually was a pretty decent tale).  Still, these are both books that had a fairly wide release and are still available to this day, and you'd figure someone would talk about my entries at some point.

The same can be said for the Amazing Transforming Superhero, an academic collection of essays on how certain characters have been revised as times have changed.  My entry on the Thing (of course...what else?) perhaps got lost in the shuffle as there were some fairly brilliant pieces surrounding it, and I haven't heard much reaction, good or bad, until I did a bit of searching a while ago, and finally found some words about my contribution.  Sort of.

In 2007 (the year the book was released), the SF Site reviewed the book to find that The Amazing Transforming Superhero wasn't for everyone, which, as a collection of conference essays, would figure. The reviewer then goes on to mention that "Nevertheless, there are several points of minor interest to the comics fanatic.  Some of which, I was pleased to find as an occasional comic book reader of long standing, were new to me.  Among them are; Ben Grimm's religious heritage..."

JACKPOT!  Four words, not bad.

The online journal Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture also reviewed the book, this one in their fourth issue of 2008.  Reviewer Christian Pyle had this to say: "A wide variety of other topics complete this anthology.  Jeff McClelland looks at how the Thing of the Fantastic Four has developed over time from a Yancy Street everyman to a devout Jew."

That isn't necessarily the point of my essay, but HEY!  What the heck...I'm even mentioned by name!

Sigh.  I'm sure there'll come a point, if I keep at it, where someone will either love or hate something I write enough to espouse or deride it in more than just a few sentences.  I await that day with baited breath.

Fate Magazine

As has been mentioned before, I do the "occasional" Google search for mentions of Teddy and the Yeti. Many times the results point right back to this blog, while others come from the standard Previews issue description online retailers have picked up on. In all, there aren't a whole lot of surprises, save for one curious result from Fate Magazine. Their online preview of the January-February issue includes a table of contents listing for "Presidential Bigfoot: Teddy and the Yeti" by Gary W. Hemphill, which, upon making this discovery, scared me right to high hell.

I'm sure a listing like this might make a lot of people worry. For one, the magazine is using the EXACT NAME I've chosen for the book, but beyond that, Teddy and the Yeti's first appearance in 2007's Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch anthology dealt with the duo taking on robotic doppelgangers of historical figures, prominently including US Presidents, making the "Presidential Bigfoot" title all the more troublesome.

I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but I also didn't want to turn a blind eye to something that could end up being a serious case of copyright violation and cause me problems in the future, so I went ahead and plunked down $10.95 ($5.95 for the magazine, $5.00 shipping!!) to get a copy of the issue in question, which arrived in my mailbox today.

To my relief, there's no connection between Teddy and the Yeti the comic and Teddy and the Yeti the Fate Magazine article. The article in the magazine deals with Teddy Roosevelt and his experiences with a man who at one time MIGHT have encountered Bigfoot, and nothing more. Apparently Gary Hemphill also finds "Teddy and the Yeti" to be a clever title...but the similarities end there, much to my overwhelming solace.

I now have to deal with the fact that there is a searchable record of me purchasing a conspiracy theory magazine. This issue of Fate Magazine came with the can't-miss offer to purchase "Species Link: The Journal of Interspecies Telepathic Communication", which I can't imagine is an actual journal of academic repute.

The magazine itself had a section on psychic predictions for 2009 (remember, this was the January-February issue), which included one that stood above the rest: "Our government", predicts noted medium Jennie Easterling, "will obtain a device that will break a hurricane when it is several hundred miles out, so when it reaches land, it will be broken up into several tropical storms scattered along the shoreline." Well, I guess they still have almost two months to reveal this secret hurricane buster, but...I'm a bit skeptical.

Finally, if you look at the scan of the cover I took, this issue of Fate Magazine also offers tips on how to sell a haunted house, which, during a recession, is quite topical...so kudos on whoever thought to put that on the cover.

In 20 years or so, I'm sure there will be some congressional hearing not unlike the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s in which this purchase will come back and damn me. And I'll have no recourse but to admit I bought it.

Copyrights, part 2

A few weeks ago I mentioned receiving a letter from the US Copyright Office.  As further evidence that I am not an habitual liar, I present...exhibit A.

I have a shelf copy of the Sasquatch anthology with me in NC, but the rest are back home in PA, which presented a problem...until I found a copy (at the comic shop that's having a bunch of sales) on Wednesday.  I got it for five bucks, which is $20 off the cover price.  I'm almost completely happy to get such a good deal on a book that I'll ultimately be giving away (TO HUMANITY), though I do have a tiny bit of remorse that I find my work so quickly selling for so cheap.  I'll get over it.

Copyrights

I got a call from my parents today saying that they received a letter for me from the US Copyright Office. I immediately knew what it was, but I still found the timing a little bit strange.

You see, when "Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch" first came out and I was beginning to think about doing more with Teddy and the Yeti, I filled out the requisite forms and sent in a copy of the book to copyright the characters and ideas in a legal sort of way. I remember reading something about how the Copyright Office would be in contact with me and would mail my distinct number within six weeks or so. This was, oh, a year and a half ago.

I guess it's a case of "better late than never", though I still do find it at least a little bit amusing. After not hearing anything for so long, I just figured that I'd never hear anything back from them, which seemed to say something about our governmental structure, but HEY! I guess things are working down in Washington after all, albeit a bit more slowly than I had anticipated.

The most interesting part about all of this is that they've requested another copy of the book so they can keep it on file at the Library of Congress. Now, let's be clear: there are lots of books at the Library of Congress, and they didn't request a copy of the Sasquatch anthology because it was a priceless piece of art history (or did they...?), but there's an odd feeling knowing that, long after I'm dead and forgotten, Teddy and the Yeti will be tucked away in some corner of a governmental library for anyone to stumble upon. Take that, future!

How did I miss this?

How this slipped on by me is anyone's guess.  A few weeks ago, the news of a real live (well, real dead, I guess) Bigfoot showing up in rural Georgia captivated the country for, oh, a few days or so.  The men who found the body of the beast, tired of being mocked for what so obviously looked like a halfway decent Halloween costume shoved into a freezer, told the world that their naysayers would soon 'eat their words' once they were vindicated with sophisticated DNA tests and exams.

So, naturally, no one was surprised when the results came back and what was in the freezer turned out to be a Sasquatch costume and animal guts.

Stories like this are typically pretty funny (though I do wonder where they got all of those animal guts from...), but the fact that this hoax was so ballyhooed from coast to coast gives us an idea of how popular Bigfoot - or at least the concept of Bigfoot - still is and how much people may want to believe it exists.  It may be a myth but it speaks, I think, to our desire to believe in something ancient and mysterious, a gentle sentinel lurking in our still-wild forests.

What makes the Sasquatch (or the vastly more cultured Yeti) so intriguing?  Why do we continue to look after so many years?  There's the visual appeal, but...

Regardless, it seems like a great marketing opportunity for Teddy and the Yeti has passed us by.  "In this issue: See! A frozen monster and her best friend!  See! A Yeti in a refrigerator!  See! How to use opossum guts as garnish!"